Sunday, January 11, 2009

The soothing sounds of EJ

I cannot explain it, nor do I understand the power that Elton John has over Fynneus Bartholomew Grant. One night out of desperation Thadeus pulled up a youtube video of Elton John singing and playing "Tiny Dancer". Fynn was almost instantly soothed and fell asleep. It worked so wonderfully that we tried it again the next time he was terribly upset, and the next, and the next. Tried and true, if Fynn is upset and will not nurse and holding and walking are not enough, the Tiny Dancer video WILL put him at ease. But it is not just Elton's soothing vocals and amazing piano coupled with mesmerizing accompaniment instruments. Fynn loves to watch him sing and play his music. I don't know if it's the passion he sees or maybe just the multi-colored sequined jacket and sunglasses but he definitely enjoys watching. Which is why the rest of this story is even more amazing. Earlier in the week The boys and I spent a full day in Memphis. We dropped Thadeus off at work, had a picnic in the van, spent a couple hours at the childrens museum, had a snack in the van, went back into the museum for story and craft time, had a delightful dinner with some friends, went to a 2 hour La Leche Leauge meeting and then, Finally it was time to get Thadeus again. The boys were so good all day. But by this time they were just worn out. Fynn began to cry as soon as he realized I was putting him in his car seat. I offered a drink or snack. He declined with anger. He cried all the way to the airport. He continued to cry as Thadeus opened the van door to greet us all. He cried harder when Thadeus looked at him and even harder when he tried to sooth him. We moved on. I was thinking he was so tired he would probably be asleep within five minutes. I was wrong! He cried and cried. Rollin tried to tell him in a sweet voice "everthings okay Fynn" when that didn't work he shouted "you are hurting my ears FYNN!" When that didn't work I tried talking in a soothing voice and telling him that we were almost home (which we were not) and that when we got there I would get him out of his seat and hold him. He calmed for a very brief moment, still whimpering and then back to a full blown crying scream. I began to sing "hush little baby" then "the itsy bitsy spider" then "twinkle twinkle little star" still nothing! Thadeus had a good Idea that earned us another brief moment of,.......almost peace. He asked Fynn if he could see the stars and began to talk to him about the sky. When Fynn realized that he could not see the stars he was right back at it. I began to sing again, "House at pooh corner" this time Thadeus joined in and no luck. Next was "Rocky Racoon".....................no luck. But then.............Thadeus began with the timeless words, "blue jean baby, LA lady" I joined in "seamstress for the band". It was indeed working, Fynn was down to a whimper and we continued to sing all the words we could to "Tiny Dancer". Out of key, without tempo, with out any acompinement. We were pitchy and just plain bad. It may have actually been the worst rendition of the song that has ever been song. But before we were through Fynn fell asleep.............................................................................................................................and just in time to pull onto our street.